13 June 2011

The writer’s block continues to plague me, a lingering side-effect of motherhood I’m afraid. I sit down a dozen times to try to write something meaningful and…poof…my mind wanders off into a dozen other directions.

Medical quandaries aside, things have been busy on the home front. Last weekend we built a wood deck in the backyard. We slaved away for two whole days while my parents ran interference with Andrew. Thank goodness for good neighbours and family, it would have taken us a month to complete entirely on our own. Tired, sore and barely able to put one foot in front of the other, we now have a lovely place to enjoy meals together en plein air.

A glutton for punishment, I decided to dig a flower bed around the perimeter of the deck this weekend. I was able to bang out something decent in only two hours while Andrew napped. Overall, I’m quite happy with how things turned out. We are schedule to have a PVC fence installed in a week and that should complete the whole look quite nicely.

Once again, we have been using Dan’s upcoming birthday as the impetus to get things accomplished around the house. We are hosting another party this year and, shock of all horrors, there’s no theme involved! Given the fact that we are both pretty tired, we have opted for a minimal-fuss BBQ with drinks on the deck – perfection!

Andrew continues to be the bright star in our lives. Whenever I have a crappy day or feel a little down, all I need is a snuggle and a smile from him to put me to rights again. You should hear the little guy jabbering away. He knows quite a few words now and has started stringing them together to form responses, commands and basic statements. I love this age, we never know what it going to come out of his mouth.We do have some issues with temper tantrums, but we are getting better at dealing with them. He is an intense child, always has been, and I think he gets very frustrated when his body can’t keep up with his mind or, worse still, when we don’t seem to understand what he wants. We have had to do the dreaded “walk of shame” out of grocery stores with a bucking and wailing kiddo, but I think my comfort level has grown over time. I used to be very concerned about what others would think of us when Andrew fusses, now I don’t really care. Every kid is different and we do our very best to get the very best out of him. If there is one thing that parenthood has taught me, it’s to NEVER judge. This isn’t an easy gig, we’re in a constant state of learning.

In closing, I’m leaving you with a picture of my little red-headed devil. Where of where did my baby go? Who replaced him with this funny little toddler?

02 June 2011

My biopsy came back as I had expected – no major signs of cancer cells but also somewhat inconclusive.I had my follow-up with the surgeon yesterday and was asked to make the difficult decision. My options are as follows:

(a) continue to monitor the nodule every 3 months with more ultrasounds and biopsies or(b) remove the left lobe of the thyroid entirely and send to pathologist for final verdict.

Given that I have been living with this eight on my shoulders for over two years, I have decided to go with option #2. While there is still only a 7-10% chance that the nodule is cancerous, I simply can’t live with “inconclusive” as a result. Given that the nodule has also grown slightly, albeit slowly, I don’t want to take any chances. I hate to lose a vital glad for potentially nothing, but I would regret apathy even more if this turns out to be something serious. Much of it comes down to having watched loved ones suffer from advanced stages of cancer. One can’t help but think, “If only they caught it sooner.” I have been given the opportunity to be as proactive as possible. After going through all the battery of tests, the decision was actually an easy one for me – get it out!

As with any surgery, there are some minor risks, namely damage to the nerves affecting the vocal chord. That being said, the risks do seem low and this is a fairly common operation. If all goes well, I will be released from the hospital the same day and on medical leave for two week to rest and re-cooperate. I have no doubt that my throat will be sore as hell and quite swollen but, like anything, it will pass.

I am hoping that I can get in for the operation by this August. Come hell or high water, I’m going on my 5-year anniversary trip to Boston already booked for September. I don’t care whether I look like I’ve been sliced in the throat, I have more than earned myself a vacation.